Consultation on allocation and gatekeeping in family courts

by reporting watch team | Oct 11, 2025 | Consultations, FCReportingWatch, Open Reporting

This topic was recently covered in a consultation issued by judges that updates guidance to courts on what level of judge or magistrate should sit on a case and generally how applications received will be efficiently administered. The guidance says that it applies to...

An order for ‘no contact’ at West London Family Court

by Julie Doughty | Oct 10, 2025 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging

Earlier this month, I attended a private law hearing held at West London Family Court before His Honour Judge O’Donovan. The judge made a transparency order at the beginning of the hearing. There are some unusual aspects to this case, including a section 91(14) order...

Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup: August-Sept 2025

by reporting watch team | Oct 2, 2025 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

Welcome to the Roundup, where we correct, clarify and comment on media reports of family law, explain and comment on published family court judgments, and highlight other transparency news. MEDIA COVERAGE OF FAMILY LAW, TRANSPARENCY etc The Financial Times posed the...

Will my Family Court judgment be published?

by reporting watch team | Sep 19, 2025 | FCReportingWatch

This post was amended on 25 September to add a new link on the Judiciary website. We recently received an enquiry from someone who wanted a court judgment in their case to be published and who didn’t know how to go about this. [EDITED 22.09.25 to clarify this...

British teenager becomes a ward of court to escape from Somalia  

by reporting watch team | Sep 7, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

We spotted this dramatic court judgment published last week although, surprisingly, we’ve not seen any media coverage – Re M (Nationality Based Jurisdiction) [2025] EWHC 1821 (Fam). There are a few similarities with the widely publicised case in July of the 14 year...

A happy ending in Cardiff Family Court

by Julie Doughty | Sep 1, 2025 | FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging

7 November 2025: CORRECTION AND APOLOGY: We have now learnt that the email address we had been using for the local authority lawyer in this case was not an active inbox and she had not received the emails we’d been sending. We apologise for this...